Recognition system, recognition method and computer readable medium for calculating feature values of an object image

ABSTRACT

A recognition system includes an acquisition module configured to acquire an image data generated by an image sensor, a first generation module configured to generate a graphical user interface which contains the image data, and an input module configured to detect an input on the graphical user interface, the input indicating a position designation on the image data. The recognition system further includes a second generation module configured to overlap a frame-line on the image data of the graphical user interface based on the position designation detected by the input module, and a calculation module configured to calculate one or more feature values of an object image within the frame-line.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese Patent Application No. 2012-038552, filed Feb. 24, 2012, theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a recognition systemfor specifying an object according to the shape, color, pattern, and thelike of the surface of the object.

BACKGROUND

A recognition system specifies the category of an object by analyzingthe image data acquired from an image sensor and comparing the imagedata with feature values for reference. This system may be useful in abakery or a grocery which deals in some commodities that do not have abarcode label.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an external view of a checkout terminal according to a firstembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the hardware components of a commodityreading apparatus and a POS terminal according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram that illustrates the data structure of adata file according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a program processed by a CPUaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a program executed by a CPU according to thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a program executed by a CPU according to thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a correction program executed by a CPUaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a default GUI displayed by a display according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a GUI which displays the frame-lines in default sizesaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a GUI correcting the frame-lines according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a GUI resulting from a correction operation on theframe-lines according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a GUI resulting from an error according to the firstembodiment

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to an embodiment, a recognition system is disclosed. Therecognition system comprises an acquisition module configured to acquirean image data generated by an image sensor, a first generation moduleconfigured to generate a graphical user interface which contains theimage data, and an input module configured to detect an input on thegraphical user interface, the input indicating a position designation onthe image data. The recognition system further comprises a secondgeneration module configured to overlap a frame-line on the image dataof the graphical user interface based on the position designationdetected by the input module, and a calculation module configured tocalculate one or more feature values of an object image within theframe-line.

According to another embodiment, a recognition method is disclosed. Themethod comprises acquiring an image data generated by an image sensor,generating a graphical user interface containing the image data, andaccepting an input from the graphical user interface, the inputindicating a position designation on the image data contained in thegraphical user interface. The method further comprises overlapping aframe-line on the image data based on the designated position,calculating at least one calculated feature value of an object image inthe frame-line, and storing a plurality of records, each recordcomprising one or more stored feature values of an object and aninformation identification code of the object. The method furthercomprises comparing the at least one calculated feature value to thestored feature values, and based on the comparison, retrieving one ofthe plurality of records.

According to another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium that stores a computer program is disclosed. The programcauses a one or more CPUs to perform a process for recognizing anobject, the process comprising acquiring an image data generated by animage sensor, generating a graphical user interface containing the imagedata, and accepting an input from the graphical user interface, theinput indicating a position designation on the image data contained inthe graphical user interface. The process further comprises overlappinga frame-line on the image data based on the input indicating thedesignated position, and calculating one or more feature values of anobject image within the frame-line.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to thedrawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the sameor similar portions respectively.

A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12.FIG. 1 is an external view of a checkout terminal according to the firstembodiment.

The first embodiment may be applicable to a commodity reading apparatusinstalled in a bakery, doughnut shop, grocery or other retail store.

The system includes a commodity reading apparatus 1 and a POS (Point OfSales) terminal 2. The commodity reading apparatus 1 is installed on acounter 3. The POS terminal 2 and a cash drawer 5 are installed on aregister 4. The commodity reading apparatus 1 is electrically connectedwith the POS terminal 2 through a communication cable.

The counter 3 in an elongated shape is arranged along a passage forcustomers. Customers move along the counter 3. The register 4 arrangedbeside the counter 3 is located at the downstream side of the movementdirection of customers. A shop assistant may operate the commodityreading apparatus 1 and the POS terminal 2 in the space surrounded bythe counter 3 and the register 4.

The commodity reading apparatus 1 has a housing 10A and a sensor unit10B which is arranged on the front upper end of the housing 10A. Animage sensor 14 capable of photographing the object placed on thecounter 3 is built in the sensor unit 10B. A keyboard 11, a touch-screendisplay 12 and a display 13 are arranged on the upper end portion of thehousing 10A. The touch-screen display 12 is arranged on the sensor unit10B.

The image sensor 14 includes a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor, adrive circuit, a lens, and the like. The lens guides the light from theoutside to the CCD. The image sensor 14 outputs the image data of thephotographing area. The photographing area refers to the area of thecounter 3 which can be converted to image data by the image sensor 14.

Customer may place a tray 6 on which a commodity (e.g. bread, bakingfood, doughnut, and the like) is placed on the counter 3. As shown inFIG. 1, the shop assistant places the tray 6 under the sensor unit 10B.The image sensor 14 generates the image data of the commodity placed onthe tray 6. The touch-screen display 12 displays the image data.

The POS terminal 2 comprises a keyboard 21, a display 22 for shopassistants, a display 23 for customers and a receipt printer 24.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the hardware components of the commodityreading apparatus 1 and the POS terminal 2. The commodity readingapparatus 1 includes a control unit and an input/output unit. Thecontrol unit includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a ROM 103, anRAM 104, an image sensor 14 and an external interface 105. The CPU 101is connected with the ROM 103, the RAM 104, the image sensor 14 and theexternal interface 105 via bus lines such as an address bus and a databus. The ROM 103 stores the program executed by the CPU 10.

The input/output unit comprises a keyboard 11, a touch-screen display12, a display 13 and an external interface 106. The input/output unit isconnected with the control unit via an external interface 106. Thetouch-screen display 12 includes a display 121 and a touch input device122 which is overlapped on the surface of the display 121. The touchinput device 122 detects the position touched by a finger and sends theposition data to the CPU 101.

The POS terminal 2 comprises a CPU 201, a ROM 203, a RAM 204, a HDD(Hard Disk Drive) 205, a communication interface 206 and an externalinterface 207. The CPU 201 is connected with the ROM 203, the RAM 204,the HDD 205 and the external interface 207 via a bus line 202. The busline 202 is connected with input/output circuits (not shown) of thekeyboard 21, the display 22, the display 23, the printer 24 and the cashdrawer 5.

The communication interface 206 is connected with a store server SCthrough a network such as an LAN (Local Area Network). The POS terminal2 may transmit data with the store server SC. For instance, the POSterminal 2 receives a data file 7 from the store server SC and storesthe data file 7 in the HDD 205.

The connection interface 207 is connected with the connection interfaces105 and 106 via a communication cable. The POS terminal 2 may transmitdata between the commodity reading apparatus 1. The POS terminal 2receives the commodity information read by the commodity readingapparatus 1. The POS terminal 2 sends the data in the data file 7 to thecommodity reading apparatus 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram that illustrates the data structure of thedata file 7. The data file 7 is, for example, a table of the relationaldatabase, controlled by SQL (Structured Query Language). The data file 7includes a plurality of field names which refer to: a commodity code, acommodity name, a unit price, commodity parameters, and the like. Thecommodity code is a primary key of the table. The primary key is aunique ID specifying the data file 7 (and the corresponding commodity).Commodity parameters refer to the feature values of the standardappearance of the commodity. The feature values are calculated accordingto a shape of the commodity, a color tone, a pattern, a flatness level,and the like, of a surface of the commodity.

FIG. 4 is functional block diagram of the program processed by the CPU101. The program includes a frame-line display module 31, an inputmodule 32, a frame-line correction module 33, a recognition module 34and an output module 35. The CPU 101 executes the program based on theposition information from the touch input device 122 and the image datagenerated by the image sensor 14. The frame-line display module 31displays a frame-line based on the specific operation of the shopassistant on the touch input device 122. The frame-line correctionmodule 33 corrects the size and the shape of the frame-line displayed bythe display 12. The input module 32 instructs the frame-line correctionmodule 33 to perform a correction operation based on the specificoperation of the shop assistant on the touch input device 122. Therecognition module 34 digitizes the image data and calculates featurevalues of the image data. The output module 35 sends the feature valuesto the POS terminal 2.

FIG. 5-FIG. 7 are flowcharts of the program executed by the CPU 101. TheCPU 101 starts the program when the shop assistance places the tray 6 inthe photographing area and presses the key ‘Start’ on the keyboard 11.

The CPU 101 outputs an ‘on’ signal to the image sensor 14 (Act 1). Theimage sensor 14 starts to photograph the photographing area according tothe ‘on’ signal. The image sensor 14 generates a image data, and storesthe image data in the RAM 104 in sequence.

The CPU 101 acquires the image data from the RAM 104 (Act 2). The CPU101 generates a graphical user interface (GUI) containing the image dataand sends the generated GUI to the touch-screen display 12. The display121 displays the GUI (Act 3). The CPU 101 resets the counter L to be ‘0’(Act 4). The RAM 104 includes an area for the counter L.

FIG. 8 is a default GUI displayed by the display 121. The GUI includes abutton B1, a button B2 and an area G. When the shop assistant touchesthe input device 122, the touch input device 122 sends the positioninformation to the CPU 101. When the position refers to the button B1,the CPU 101 determines a ‘Decision’ operation. When the position refersto the button B2, the CPU 101 determines a ‘Cancel’ operation. The imagedata generated by the image sensor 14 includes the tray 6 and thecommodities M1, M2, M3 and M4 carried on the tray 6. The display 121displays the image data in the area G. In addition, the keyboard 11 mayalso have a button B1 and a button B2. The shop assistant may chooseeither of the GUI and the keyboard 11 for inputting operations.

The CPU 101 waits to receive the touch position information from thetouch input device 122 (Act 5). After receiving the touch positioninformation from the touch input device 122, the CPU 101 determineswhether the touch position is in or outside the area G (Act 6). If thetouch position is outside the area G, the CPU 101 determines whether ornot the touch position is on the button B1 or the button B2 (Act 7). Ifthe touch position is on neither of the button images, the CPU 101returns to execute ACT 2 to acquire next image data from the RAM 104(Act 7: NO).

If the touch position is in the area G, a timer arranged in the CPU 101starts to measure the time T during which the shop assistant touches thetouch input device 122 (ACT 6 is YES; ACT 8). In Act 9, The CPU 101determines whether or not the time T exceeds a predetermined time t(e.g. 2 s). If the time T is within the time t, the CPU 101 determineswhether or not a touch position is being received from the touch inputdevice 122 (Act 10). In the case where the shop assistant continues totouch the touch input device 122, the CPU 101 returns to execute Act 8to continue to measure the time T.

If the user takes hands off from the touch input device 122 before thetime T exceeds the time t, the CPU 101 determines whether or not thetouch position is outside the frame-line described below (Act 10 is YES;Act 11). In this embodiment, the outside of a frame-line is defined notto include line on the frame-line. If the position is outside theframe-line, the CPU 101 overlaps a preset rectangular frame-line with acenter of the touch position with the image data in the area G (Act 12).The CPU 101 only adds ‘1’ on the counter L (ACT 13) and then returns toexecute ACT 5. The value of the counter L means a number of theframe-lines displayed in the display 121.

When the touch position is not outside the frame-line, the CPU 101removes the frame-line outside the touch position or the frame-linetouched by the shop assistant (Act 11 is NO; Act 14). The CPU 101subtracts ‘1’ from the counter L (Act 15) and then returns to executeAct 5.

If the time T exceeds the time t, the CPU 101 executes a frame-linecorrection processing (Act 9 is YES; Act 16), which will be described indetail below.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the CPU 101 in the case where the button imagesare touched. When the touch position is on a button image, the CPU 101determines whether or not the touch position is the button B1 or thebutton B2 (Act 7 is YES; Act 17). When the touch position is on thebutton B2, the CPU 101 removes all the frame-lines in the area G (ACT18) and then proceeds to execute ACT 4.

When the touch position is on the button B2, the CPU 101 sends an ‘off’signal to the image sensor 14 (Act 19). The image sensor 14 stopsphotographing according to the ‘off’ signal.

The CPU 101 determines whether or not the counter L is greater than ‘0’(Act 20). This processing is ended when the counter L is ‘0’ (Act 20 isNO-END).

When the counter is greater than ‘0’, the CPU 101 carries out arecognition processing based on the image in one frame-line (Act 20 isYES; Act 21). The CPU 101 first digitizes the image in the frame-line.The CPU 101 extracts an outline from the digitized image. If the outlineof the commodity is extracted, the CPU 101 calculates the feature valuesbased on the shape of the commodity, the color tone, the pattern and theflatness level of the surface of the commodity according to the image inthe outline. The CPU 101 temporarily stores the feature values in theRAM 104 (Act 22).

The CPU 101 subtracts ‘1’ from the counter L (Act 23). The CPU 101determines whether or not the counter L is ‘0’ (Act 24). When thecounter is greater than ‘0’, the CPU 101 returns to execute Act 21 torecognize the images in other frame-lines (Act 24 is NO).

When the counter L is ‘0’, the CPU 101 sends the data of the featurevalues stored in the RAM 104 to the POS terminal 2 (ACT 25).

When the POS terminal 2 receives the feature values of each commodityfrom the commodity reading apparatus 1, the CPU 201 compares the featurevalue with the commodity parameters presented in each record stored inthe data file 7. The CPU 201 specifies a commodity code having thecommodity parameters that most closely approximate the feature value.

The CPU 201 reads a commodity name and a unit price from the data file 7based on the specified commodity code. The CPU 201 calculates a salesamount. The CPU 201 records the sales data containing the commoditycode, the commodity name, the unit price, the sales piece and the salesamount in the RAM 204.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the frame-line correction processing of Act 16.If the time T exceeds the time t, the CPU 101 determines whether or notthe touch position is inside the frame-line or on the frame-line (Act31, Act 32). If the determination result of Act 31 and Act 32 is NO, theCPU 10 waits to release the touch (Act 33). If the touch is released,the CPU 101 returns to execute Act 5 and then waits for the next touchinput.

On the other hand, when the touch position is inside the frame-line, theCPU 101 determines whether or not the number of the pieces of positioninformation from the touch input device 122 is 1 (Act 31 is YES; Act34). If the determination result of Act 34 is YES, the CPU 101 allows asize correction on the frame-line. The CPU 101 scales up or down theframe-line (Act 35).

If the determination result of Act 34 is NO, the CPU 101 determineswhether or not the number of the pieces of position information from thetouch input device 122 is greater than 2 (Act 36). If the determinationresult of Act 36 is YES, the CPU 101 allows a shape correction on theframe-line. The CPU 101 changes the rectangular frame-line to a circularone or the circular frame-line to a rectangular one (Act 37).

If the determination result of Act 36 is NO, the CPU 101 determineswhether or not the position information from the touch input device 122is changed continuously (Act 38). If the determination result of Act 38is YES, the CPU 101 allows a position correction on the frame-line.Then, the CPU 101 moves the frame-line using a direction of movement ofthe position information (Act 39).

The CPU 101 determines whether or not the touch position is released(Act 40). If the determination result of Act 40 is NO, the CPU 101returns to execute Act 34. If the determination result of Act 40 is YES,the CPU 101 returns to execute Act 5.

If the touch position is on the frame-line, the CPU 101 determineswhether or not the position information from the touch input device 122is changed continuously (Act 32 is YES; Act 41). If the determinationresult of Act 41 is YES, the CPU 101 allows an angle correction on theframe-line. The CPU 101 rotates the frame-line according to the changedirection and the change distance of the position information (Act 42).The frame-line may turn around its center.

The CPU 101 determines whether or not the touch position is released(Act 43). If the determination result of Act 43 is NO, the CPU 101returns to execute Act 41. If the determination result of Act 43 is YES,the CPU 101 returns to execute Act 5.

The frame-line display module 31 may execute Act 12. The input module 32may execute Act 9, Act 31, Act 32, Act 34, Act 36 and Act 38. Theframe-line correction module 33 may execute Act 35, Act 37, Act 39 andAct 42. The recognition module 34 may execute Act 21. The output module35 may execute Act 25.

When the shop assistant operates the ‘Start’ key on the keyboard 11, thecommodity reading apparatus 1 generates the default GUI having the imagedata generated by the image sensor 14 in the area G. The touch display12 may display the default GUI as shown in FIG. 8. A frame-linecorrection method is now described. The shop assistant touches images ofcommodities M1, M2, M3 and M4, respectively. The time interval T of eachtouch is shorter than the time interval t. FIG. 9 is a GUI whichdisplays the initial frame-lines in default size. When the shopassistant touches the commodity on the area G, the frame-line displaymodule 31 generates initial frame-lines L1, L2, L3 and L4 having adefault rectangular shape by taking touch positions P1, P2, P3 and P4 ascenters.

The initial frame-line L1 is smaller than the commodity M1 in shape. Asa result, the recognition module 34 fails to extract a complete outline,so the shop assistant needs to scale up the frame-line L1. The shopassistant touches again the one touch position inside of the initialframe-line L1 and waits for the elapse of the time t in this state. Asshown in FIG. 10, the frame-line correction module 33 movably scales upthe frame-line L1 by taking the touch position Pla as the center of theframe-line L1. If the frame-line L1 is scaled up enough to cover theshape of the commodity M1, then the shop assistant releases the touch.The frame-line scaled up enough to cover the shape of the commodity M1is represented by a label L1 a.

In FIG. 10, the frame-line Ln is represented by dotted lines, and theframe-line Lna is represented by solid lines. The initial frame-line Lnand the frame-line Lna may also be distinguished by the differentcolors, thicknesses or types of the lines.

When one piece of position information is input for more than the time tfrom the touch input device 122, the frame-line L1 is, for example,movably scaled up to a size 2 times as large as the default size, andthen scaled down, for example, a half size of the default size. Theframe-line L1 is repeatedly scaled up and down as long as one piece ofposition information is input continuously. The size correction actionmay realize a scaling down operation first.

The commodity M2 may be located inside the frame-line L2 by rotating theframe-line L2 in a default size by a given angle. For instance, the shopassistant touches the position P2 a on the frame-line L2 and movesfingers downwards without taking the touching hand off from the displayscreen. The frame-line correction module 33 rotates the frame-line L2counterclockwise following the movement of the touch position. The shopassistant releases the touch at the position P2 b. The commodity M2 isentered into the frame-line L2. This position is represented by a labelL2 a.

The outline of the commodity M3 is wholly located inside the frame-lineL3 in the default size. However, as the frame-line L3 contains a part ofthe commodity M4, the recognition module 34 may extract an erroroutline. The shop assistant touches two positions P3 a and P3 b for atime longer than the time t. The frame-line correction module 33corrects the rectangular frame-line L3 to be an ellipsoidal frame-lineL3A which sets a focus to the position P3 a and the position P3 b. Theshop assistant releases the touch only when the commodity M3 enters theinside of the frame-line L3 a.

Similarly, the frame-line correction module 33 may correct a frame-lineto be a regular triangle based on three pieces of position informationor to be a standard circle based on four pieces of position information.

The outline of the commodity M4 is entirely inside of the frame-line L4.Moreover, the frame-line L4 contains no part of other commodities.Therefore, there is no need to change the size or shape of theframe-line L4.

After the shop assistant completes the frame-line correction, theoutlines of the commodities M1, M2, M3 and M4 are entirely inside offrame-lines L1 a, L2 a, L3 a and L4 a, respectively, as shown in FIG.11. The shop assistant touches the button B1. The recognition module 34calculates the feature values A of the commodity M1 based on the imagedata in the frame-line L1 a, the feature values B of the commodity M2based on the image data in the frame-line L2 a, the feature values C ofthe commodity M3 based on the image data in the frame-line L3 a, and thefeature values D of the commodity M4 based on the image data in theframe-line L4 a. The CPU 101 stores the feature values in the RAM 104.

The output module 35 sends the feature values to the POS terminal 2. TheCPU 201 of the POS terminal 2 compares the commodity parameters storedin the data file 7 with the feature values A. The CPU 201 acquires thecommodity code of a record most approximate in commodity parameter tothe feature values A. The CPU 201 carries out the same recognitionprocessing on the feature values B, C and D. If the CPU 201 is unable toidentify a record that approximates in commodity parameter to thefeature values A (or B, C or D) above a predetermined threshold, anerror is determined. For example, if the CPU 201 is unable to completerecognition processing for the commodities within L1, L2 and L3, but isable to complete recognition processing for the commodity within L4, thedisplay 12 may display the screen shown in FIG. 12. The display 12 mayalso display an error message such as “ERROR” indicating that there isno record which has a commodity parameter similar to the receivedfeature value. An error state for each frame-line may be displayed inreal-time or near real-time, even before button B1 has been pushed.Thus, the shop assistant is notified which frame-lines need to beadjusted prior to initiating recognition processing. This is shown inFIG. 9.

In this embodiment, the recognition module 34 only carries out arecognition processing on the image in the area designated by the shopassistant. Therefore, the recognition module 34 is freed from dividing aplurality of commodity areas according to image data, which avoids theerrors caused by an error division and reduces the load of the CPU 101.

The shop assistant may also implement a simple operation to display theframe-lines, resulting in an improvement in working efficiency.

As shown in FIG. 9 and discussed above, the frame-line L4 needs nocorrection. However, frame-lines L1, L2 and L3 need correcting. Theframe-line L4 is displayed by, for example, solid lines whileframe-lines L1, L2 and L3 are displayed by other lines (e.g. dottedlines). This can be seen in FIG. 12. Therefore, the shop assistant maymake a determination on whether or not a correction is needed.

Moreover, this embodiment may also be applied in, for example, anautomatic self-help checkout system, without any limitation to hardwarecomponents of the checkout system. For instance, the CPUs of a pluralityof servers in a cloud network may cooperate to execute the program.

The functions explained in the embodiment may be configured usinghardware or may be realized by causing a computer to read a computerprogram describing the functions using software. The functions may beconfigured by selecting the software or the hardware as appropriate.

Further, the functions can also be realized by causing the computer toread the computer program stored in a not-shown recording medium. Arecording form of the recording medium may be any form as long as therecording medium can record the computer program and can be read by thecomputer.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described hereinmay be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of theinventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A recognition system, comprising: an acquisitionmodule configured to acquire an image data generated by an image sensor;a first generation module configured to generate a graphical userinterface which contains the image data; an input module configured todetect an input on the graphical user interface, the input indicating aposition designation on the image data; a second generation moduleconfigured to overlap a frame-line on the image data of the graphicaluser interface based on the position designation detected by the inputmodule; a correction module configured to change a shape of theframe-line according to a correction input detected by the input module;and a calculation module configured to calculate one or more featurevalues of an object image within the frame-line, wherein if the inputmodule detects the input corresponding to the position designation inthe frame-line for a time longer than a preset time period, thecorrection module changes the shape of the frame-line according to thecorrection input.
 2. The recognition system according to claim 1,wherein the input module is configured to detect a plurality of inputs,each corresponding to a different position designation, the secondgeneration module is configured to overlap a plurality of frame-lines onthe imaged data of the graphical user interface, each frame linecorresponding to one of the different position designations.
 3. Therecognition system according to claim 1, wherein the graphical userinterface includes a button, and when the input module detects an inputcorresponding to the button, the calculation module is configured tostart to calculate the one or more feature values.
 4. The recognitionsystem according to claim 1, further comprising; a storage moduleconfigured to store a plurality of records, each record comprising oneor more stored feature values of an object and an informationidentification code of the object; and a retrieval module configured toretrieve one of the plurality of records based on a comparison betweenthe stored feature values and the one or more feature values calculatedby the calculation module; wherein when the retrieval module isincapable of retrieving one of the plurality of records, the secondgeneration module changes a display state of the frame-line.
 5. Therecognition system according to claim 1, wherein if the input moduledetects an input corresponding to a second position designation outsidethe frame-line overlapped on the graphical user interface, the secondgeneration module is configured to overlap a second frame-line on theimage data of the graphical user interface based on the second positiondesignation detected by the input module.
 6. The recognition systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the second generation module is configuredto display the frame-line in a predetermined size at the designatedposition.
 7. A recognition method comprising: acquiring an image datagenerated by an image sensor; generating a graphical user interfacecontaining the image data; accepting an input from the graphical userinterface, the input indicating a position designation on the image datacontained in the graphical user interface; overlapping a frame-line onthe image data based on the designated position; changing the shape ofthe frame-line if the input indicating the position designation isdetected inside the frame-lane for a time longer than a predeterminedtime period; calculating at least one calculated feature value of anobject image in the frame-line; storing a plurality of records, eachrecord comprising one or more stored feature values of an object and aninformation identification code of the object; comparing the at leastone calculated feature value to the stored feature values; and based onthe comparison, retrieving one of the plurality of records.
 8. Therecognition method according to claim 7, further comprising: detecting aplurality of inputs, each corresponding to a different positiondesignation; and overlapping a plurality of frame-lines on the imagedata of the graphical user interface, each frame line based on one ofthe different position designations.
 9. The recognition method accordingto claim 7, wherein the graphical user interface contains a button, andcalculating the at least one calculated feature value is in response toaccepting an input corresponding to the button.
 10. The recognitionmethod according to claim 7, further comprising: changing the displaystate of the frame-line if a record having stored feature values thatare similar to the calculated feature values cannot be retrieved. 11.The recognition method according to claim 7, further comprising:changing the shape of the frame-line in response to detecting apredetermined input.
 12. The recognition method according to claim 7,further comprising: deleting the frame-line if the input indicating theposition designation is detected inside the frame-line for a timeshorter than a preset period of time.
 13. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium that stores a computer program forcausing one or more CPUs to perform a process for recognizing an object,the process comprising: acquiring an image data generated by an imagesensor; generating a graphical user interface containing the image data;accepting an input from the graphical user interface, the inputindicating a position designation on the image data contained in thegraphical user interface; overlapping a frame-line on the Image databased on the input indicating the designated position; calculating oneor more feature values of an object image within the frame-line; anddeleting the frame-line if the input indicating the position designationis detected inside the frame-line for a time shorter than a preset timeperiod.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores acomputer program for causing a computer to perform a process forrecognizing an object according to claim 13, the process furthercomprising; storing a plurality of records, each record comprising oneor more stored feature values of an object and an informationidentification code of the object; comparing the one or more featurevalues to the stored feature values; and based on the comparison,retrieving one of the plurality of records.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that stores a computer program for causing acomputer to perform a process for recognizing an object according toclaim 13, the process further comprising; detecting a plurality ofinputs, each corresponding to a different position designation; andoverlapping a plurality of frame-lines on the image data of thegraphical user interface, each frame line based on one of the differentposition designations.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumthat stores a computer program for causing a computer to perform aprocess for recognizing an object according to claim 13, the processfurther comprising; changing the shape of the frame-line in response todetecting a predetermined input.
 17. The recognition system according toclaim 2, wherein the calculation module is configured to calculate oneor more feature values of an object within each frame-line, the systemfurther comprising: a storage module configured to store a plurality ofrecords, each record comprising one or more stored feature values of anobject and an information identification code of the object; and aretrieval module configured to retrieve a plurality of records, eachretrieved record based on a comparison between the one or more featurevalues corresponding to one of the frame-lines and the stored featurevalues.